What is your stance on the military, and what will you do to improve their welfare and support?

Being text of a press conference by His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar (GCON), Waziri Adamawa, Vice President of Nigeria (1999-2007) and Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (2023), at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre on the 5th of October 2023. Protocol Gentlemen of the Press, Fellow Citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I consider it important to address and report to you today on issues that define the future of elective government and legitimate leadership in our country. Political leadership and active citizenship matter because they are ways through which we all work together to build a country that works for all who live in it. Our country is bigger than any of us, and its standing in the world affects the fate of all who come from or live in it. As leaders, it is our duty to advance the well-being of all our people and of the country. For this purpose, my generation worked hard to return the soldiers to the barracks and to defend the right of the people to elect and establish for ourselves a legitimate government. Our elections are established and governed by law and founded on the constitution from which leadership and government in Nigeria alone derive their legitimacy.

If I was President, I would order the military to occupy Borno State or any state under siege by bandits or armed groups until they clear those areas. We must care enough for the men and women who put their lives on the line for our sake. I offer my condolences to the Nigerian Armed Forces, the family of the bereaved and indeed to all Nigerians. May this dark period pass over us as a nation, sooner than later. -AA

If I were President, I would order the military to occupy Borno State or any state under siege by bandits or armed groups until they clear those areas. We must care enough for the men and women who put their lives on the line for our sake. I offer my condolences to the Nigerian Armed Forces, the family of the bereaved and indeed to all Nigerians. May this dark period pass over us as a nation, sooner than later. -AA

Atiku described as extraordinary the reported announcement by Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Jimoh Ibrahim, that he had secured Tinubu a seat “not too far from where the US President, Donald Trump, will be seated.” “The seat was secured, but the President disappeared,” Atiku said. “If proximity to President Trump was considered such a diplomatic achievement, why did Tinubu abandon the opportunity and send his deputy? Why celebrate securing a strategic seat for the President when the President had no intention of occupying it? “That contradiction becomes even more scandalous when Nigerians remember that Tinubu’s administration committed up to $9 million of Nigeria’s scarce foreign exchange to American lobbyists supposedly hired to improve its standing before the government and people of the United States. “What exactly did Nigerians purchase with that money? Why spend millions of dollars lobbying Washington while Tinubu repeatedly stays away from New York? Why hire lobbyists to speak for Nigeria in America when the Nigerian President cannot summon the courage to appear at the world’s biggest diplomatic gathering on American soil?

“Nigeria could project military power across its border, yet its President could not project Nigeria’s voice from its seat at the United Nations. That contradiction is humiliating.” Atiku demanded that the Presidency state unequivocally whether Tinubu was free to travel to the United States and disclose the real reason for his third consecutive UNGA absence. “If there is no impediment, the Presidency must explain this serial absenteeism. If an impediment exists, Nigerians have a right to know,” he said. “Nigeria is bigger than Bola. Our diplomatic influence, economic interests and international reputation must not be subordinated to Tinubu’s American baggage. “After committing up to $9 million to American lobbyists, Nigerians deserve more than silence, evasions and another empty presidential seat at the United Nations. “Is this the kind of President Nigeria deserves? “Mr Bola, your seat was reportedly secured near President Donald Trump. Why did you refuse to occupy it?

Question: Why are you still seeking the presidency after several attempts and what do you say to Nigerians who believe it is driven by personal ambition rather than national service? Answer: I have said it several times that my interest in being president of Nigeria is to serve the country. Nigeria has given me so many opportunities to be who I am today. If God has given me the grace to return the benefits to the country, why should I shy away from that call to duty? If other presidents we have had offered better quality of leadership, I would have retired the ambition. But I cannot, in good conscience, decide to retire my ambition when I know that I have better ideas to offer in leading the country. If I were interested in personal gains, I would have been patronizing my opponents all these years. Such a decision would not be fair to Nigeria. I am in the race and persistently to offer service to the country.